Top 3 Genres that don't translate to the table that well.

I've been gaming for a long time. No, longer than that.
I was lucky, though, in that I wasn't in the initial, late-seventies generation of gamers. When I started gaming in '82 it was when companies and games were popping up out of the woodwork. D&D was the king of the sword and sorcery fantasy genre so other companies decided the best way to 'win' was to not directly compete.
This article is about which ones I've felt, over the years, that don't translate so well. I'm not saying that they couldn't, but so far, not so much.
3. Western.
Now, I imagine many folks have great Boot Hill stories but its not about the stories I'm talking about. No, my difficulty with a traditional western is the lethality. Don't get me wrong, I love westerns, film and literature, but when you are playing in a game with a random element for task resolution you are going to have folks get shot.
Without superpowers or some supernatural defenses, folks get shot, folks die.
So most 'western' games that do work do so by being non-traditional or, in the case of Dust Devils, make the destruction of the character the point of the game.
2. Super Heroes.
This is going to sound crazy coming from me, as its my second favorite genre to run but this one makes the list not because the rules don't work but, generally speaking, its the players vs the genre.
Most players find the idea of not killing their enemies and not looting the bodies and dealing with the melodrama to be dumb. Unless all of your players are superhero comic junkies, its going to be a rough road to hoe.
And finally, at number one..
1. Horror.
This one sounds even crazier coming from me as this IS my favorite genre to run. Once again, it doesn't go to fault with finding a game that works. There's some great systems for horror, from Little Fears, to Dread to Call of Cthulhu. The difficulty comes with getting the players to not only get into the mood but to STAY there. Players are friends and sometimes they want to joke and jibe and break mood. Its normally easy to recover the flow though, but in horror its much much harder.
Once one of the guys mocks the monster or makes a sexual innuendo about the dangerous psycho its almost over for the horror part. Also, since you are trying to evoke fear and horror, its doubly difficult because not everyone has the same idea of what is fearful or terrifying.
Some folks cover their eyes at a a slasher flick while others are having a ball and laughing.
Session 9 is my prime example. Its an hour plus slow burn until the horror erupts. I find it one of my absolute favorite horror films because of that slow build.
But you run a game like that, some of your players will get bored. And a bored player is a dangerous and disruptive player.
Tomorrow, the three that translate, for me, the best.

What a week!

Well, I didn't update before I left but I'm back from Dragoncon.
Thanks to some good friends, I was able to make the trip. It was a great time and I ran some games for some wonderful folks. There were some familar faces and some new ones and once again I was just blown away by the creativity that these fine gamers could cook up with just a few minutes to think about a pre-made character just handed to them.
I ran one session of Call of Cthulhu, a tie-in to my current campaign; Route 66. I'm still trying to cook up a catchy name.
I also ran two sessions of Mutants and Masterminds.
Aaaaaand I finally got to play Spirit of the Century. The game was Ghostbusters 1884 and it was an absolute blast. There were some battery issues with the recorder on that one but nothing was lost.
I've had a bit of con crud the last couple of days but I should have the audio of my games up tonight.
I'll post when they're ready.

More Route 66 soon.

I have two more sessions in the can, just have to upload 'em to the site.
I don't do a lot of editing of the sessions. Heck, I don't know if I've ever done much to them. I don't know if its laziness or if I feel that editing them seems like cheating.
When I say cheating, I mean, well, another word for it would be produced. That you're not hearing the actual gameplay, warts and all, but an idealized version of it.
Anyway, the game gets more fun for me to run with each session and I'm firmly decided to keep the chip mechanic.
Its a work in progress but the way it works now is that at the beginning of each session, each player is given one black chip and three reds. The black chips are for plot points or direct statements that change what I've said about what they see or know, subject to GM approval. The red chips are used for rerolls.
At the end of the session, the chips become akin to experience points, with the red chips allowing rerolls on skill improvement checks and the black chips allowing the player to select a skill that wasn't used this session to attempt to improve it, even including skills they don't have, subject to GM approval. Well, except for Cthulhu Mythos, of course.
I still weep at the lack of new players, gnashing my teeth and despairing at finding folks that don't want to just play DnD 4e. Not that I am an ardent hater of it, just that its not something I want to run.
Dragoncon is just over a week away. I hope to meet a lot of new folks there and record some game audio as well as maybe get some interviews or audio spots for the podcast which I'm still trying to get off the ground.
Hope to see you there!